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Meanwhile, while we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop in Parliament, let’s revisit an older story that seems to have mostly gone under the radar. If you’ll recall, about 2 weeks ago we published a post about how the New York Times accused Facebook of using underhanded tactics to try to silence Facebook’s critics. One of those tactics was said to include hiring a right-wing media firm to run a smear campaign against philanthropist George Soros and accusing many of Facebook’s critics as being anti-Semitic. Facebook finally came out and admitted that they did, in fact, hire the media firm known as Definers. So they’ve basically admitted to at least one of the major accusations by the Times. So why hasn’t this been bigger news? Because Facebook used one of the oldest tactics in the PR book by releasing this information right before the Thanksgiving holiday. This was a brilliant sleight of hand distraction that most stage magicians would be proud of.

Facebook is more and more becoming the public face of privacy intrusion and cover-ups. In the past, most people were more worried about the government invading their privacy instead, it turned out to be a company that was started as a way people could connect to their friends. Then again, I guess we’re always betrayed the hardest by the ones we trust the most and in the past, the American people put a lot of trust in Facebook. Now it’s becoming more evident with each passing day that trust was misplaced.

In case you missed yesterday’s post on Thanksgiving safety you can read it here. One aspect of safety that we didn’t discuss yesterday was the specter of Black Friday. Traditionally the day after Thanksgiving sees a number of retail outlets offering sales that they’ll tell you are too good to pass up, but in reality, you can.

As we’ve pointed out in yearsprior a great number of Black Friday deals the retailers are offering are nothing more than predatory business practices. In too many cases the stock these retailers have on Black Friday are limited on purpose in order to try to get you to buy more expensive products. These same items that are supposed doorbuster deals can often be found for the same sale price later on in the holiday season. That’s not even taking into account that a lot of these items can be found for better prices online than in the stores. This way you don’t have to risk injury or inconvenience by diving into the hordes of other consumers trying to get a deal that doesn’t benefit them in the long run. There are also many other scams abound on Black Friday.

While Black Friday shopping incidents have been down over the past couple of years, it still isn’t worth your time to camp out in front of a big box store in order to get an item that you can safely purchase anywhere. Thanksgiving is a holiday intended for us to spend time with family and friends and give thanks for what we’re fortunate enough to have in life. The crass consumerism that the retail stores push on us by opening as early as Thanksgiving Night is an affront to all of us who deserve more than to waste our time competing with each other for a cheap gadget. Stay home on Black Friday, your time is better spent with loved ones and that deal will be back around sooner than you think.

With a number of people looking to get an early headstart on Thanksgiving traveling we thought it would be best if we published our annual Thanksgiving safety warnings today. As most of you probably know, Thanksgiving week is one of the most dangerous holidays to travel on. The amount of alcohol-related accidents during Thanksgiving week statistically rivals that of New Year’s Eve and is only somewhat behind 4th of July weekend. With a record number of people expected to travel this weekend, those statistics may see an increase this year. Please be mindful of your consumption and if there’s any doubt in your mind whether or not you should drive please call a friend, relative or rideshare service for a lift.

Food safety is also a concern as improperly cooked turkey has the potential to send someone to the emergency room for food poisoning. Some tips include thawing your turkey out in your refrigerator in enough time for cooking. Also if you’re handling the uncooked turkey make sure you wash your hands often. Fire is also a safety concern for the holiday as cooking accidents can result in fires. The Red Cross has some tips here that include checking your smoke alarms’ batteries and having a fire extinguisher handy. And as always if you’re going to deep fry a turkey, always make sure the turkey is thawed first or the extra moisture in the cooking oil could result in severe oil burns.

Lastly, consider the health and welfare of your pets this Thanksgiving. While your dog or cat may be persistent in wanting some scraps from the table it’s not recommended that they’re given any turkey. Most pets are on a consistent diet which does not consist of turkey and it could imbalance their digestive systems. This includes any fat, skin or drippings from the turkey. What you can do when they beg is to keep some dry dog or cat food nearby and give that to them when they beg.

We here at Geebo see our userbase as more than just numbers and we would like to see you all return safely from your holiday.

According to AAA, 48.7 million people will travel 50 miles or more this Thanksgiving season. Unfortunately, a number of these people might be under the influence of alcohol. Starting today, a number of people will start celebrating with the favorite spirits in what’s been referred to as Blackout Wednesday. Combine that with the Thanksgiving holiday itself and you have a rate of alcohol related crashes that rivals New Years Eve.

Another aspect of safety for the holiday you may not think of is food safety. The USDA has some recommendations to help prevent an emergency room visit for food poisoning. One tip that they did not include is that if you’re going to deep fry a turkey, make sure it’s thawed first. If you don’t, the cooking oil and the extra moisture can cause the hot oil to geyser out of the fryer which can cause not only burns to anyone standing around, and has caused multiple house fires.

So please, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving this year and many more.